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station. I never saw him again. I nearly died of a broken heart.’
    She started sobbing again. Sophie had never seen her mother so emotional. She had always been so cool and controlled, almost distant in her manner. But now more than forty years of self-restraint was dissolving away in front of her daughter’s eyes.
    ‘And how did your parents react when they found out?’
    ‘They threw me out,’ she answered. Tears rolled down her cheeks.
    ‘What?’ The elderly couple looked utterly shocked.
    ‘Just when I needed them most. I was confused and terrified and felt so alone. And so vulnerable. I was only sixteen, and they threw me out onto the streets. I’ve never forgiven them. I never will.’
    ‘Oh, my dear,’ said Florence. She went to Susan and embraced her as tightly as her tiny form would permit.
    ‘Graham didn’t know I was only sixteen. I lied to him about my age. I pretended that I was older and working in one of the local banks, but I was still at school. I loved him so much. I wanted to kill myself when he didn’t come back. So many times I felt like killing myself.’ Her words emerged in a mixture of whispers and choking sobs. ‘I went from a schoolgirl’s dream of heaven to a hellish reality in a couple of weeks. That Christmas was wonderful. We were apart, but the feeling of being so totally in love was overpowering. I really was walking on air. And then he didn’t come back. I called at his halls on the day we’d arranged and he wasn’t there. I asked some of the other students, but they didn’t know anything. They were all busy catching up with their own gossip. I thought that he’d just been delayed or was ill, so I kept going back. And, of course, he was never there. I panicked. I cried all the time. And the students in the rooms around his didn’t seem concerned. Then one of their girlfriends said that he’d probably switched to a different university. London, maybe. And I cried even more. I felt humiliated because they began to guess that I was much younger than them. So I stayed away for a while and just wrote, but never got an answer. Weeks went by, and I missed a period. I was frantic with worry. I couldn’t talk to my parents about it, so I confided in my Auntie Olive. She was a nurse and arranged for me to get a check-up. When I knew I was pregnant, the first thing I did was go back to his room, but it was still empty. I was still in my school uniform. I saw the students whispering to each other. I felt so empty. I left and never went back. I told my parents about the pregnancy soon afterwards.’
    ‘How did you survive?’ Florence asked.
    ‘My aunt took me in. She was wonderful. She looked after me during the pregnancy, and then found me a job as a cleaner at the local doctors’ surgery after Sophie was born. Once Sophie was old enough, I got a job on the reception desk. For the last twenty-five years I’ve been the practice manager.’
    ‘And have you ever married?’ said Florence.
    ‘No. I had several serious relationships. One came very close to marriage, but there always seemed to be that little something missing. I couldn’t go through with it. I have a man-friend at the moment, but I can’t say where it’s heading.’ She paused. ‘Looking back on it all now, it seems as though it happened to another person. A few short weeks that shaped my life. All those years ago, but sometimes it’s as clear as yesterday. I watched and worried when Sophie became a teenager, and now I worry about her daughters. Sometimes I can’t believe that it all happened. But then I look at Sophie and I know that it was all real, it really did happen. And he really did exist.’
    There was a silence. Finally Florence turned to her granddaughter.
    ‘And you, Sophie?’
    Sophie spoke as calmly as she could, but it wasn’t easy. ‘I owe everything to my mother. My whole life. There’s nothing in my life that isn’t down to her in one way or another. She loved and cherished me